‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ by Harriet Beacher Stow can be described the ‘missionary’ novel. It is a
powerful attack on the evil of slavery in the 19th century American
society. It is a very moving story which played an important part riding away
slavery. President Lincoln was not far wrong in greeting Harriet Beacher with
the words,
“So
you’re the little woman
who made
the book that
made the great
war.”-President Lincoln.
ÿ
The
novel is centre on evils of slavery It presents a vivid picture of pitiable
conditions of the slaves. Novelist has depicted the plight and miseries of the
slaves. Now we discuss theme of slavery in light of novel.
Background:
Mrs. Stowe
wrote this novel in 1851. At that time independent America was divided into two
sections. The Northern Federation of states did not all slavery while the
southern federation insisted slavery for agriculture and trade. The writer Mrs.
Harriet Beecher Stove had seen the miseries of such slaves. There was a great
struggle to put an end to slavery. The writing of his novel was the part of
this struggle. Stowe herself said,
“All the
happenings of the
story
were true incidents
arranged
by her in the form
of continuous story.” - Mrs. Harriet Stow.
Thousands
and thousands of Blacks were held in those days to work is plantations in the
South federation. These unfortunate slaves were not ‘individuals’ or
‘citizens’ of the country but property of their owners. They were like commodities
belonging to their masters. They were not treated like human beings. As
salable things they might be bought and sold at master’s will or when the
master’s money is lost or when he died.
ÿ
In
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” the same thing happens. Tom’s master Mr. Shelby is forced
to sell Tom to Don Haley under his debt. Another example of this is Eliza who
married George but both were denied to live a married life because according to
the law slave can’t get married.
Laws; unjust
Laws
were unjust for poor and deprived slaves. Laws were made by white
slave-holders and were designed to favour them. The law forbade removing child
from a slave-mother but none cared. The novel has many instances of this crime
against mankind- Eliza, Cassy,
Emmeline, and Topsy. Slaves could
not testify in law court as eye-witnesses. The law gave free had to the white
master to exploit and ill-treat them. The slaves had no rights to have a family
if their master would not permit. When Eliza asked George why they can’t live
together, George answers,
“Don’t
you know that a slave
can’t be
married? There is no
law in
this country to allow it.
I can’t
hold you for my wife if
he(master) want to separate us.”
Angels among the Devils:
It
is not proper that all the people except slave were cruel, hard-hearted and
they harassed others. Some people really were kind and had some feelings for
poor slaves. e.g. the Senator Bird and his wife who provide Eliza food, shelter
and clothes. A quacker fellow Phineas Fletcher helps Eliza and George in
escaping.
The
same condition is in Tom’s case. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, St, Clare, Eva etc. had a
respect and sympathy for Tom and so they educated him. On Tom’s departure, Mr.
Shelby is very much upset and unable see him going. St. Clare believed in the
growth and development of slaves. He believed that Slave owner had a great
responsibility: They had to educate their slave and treat them like men and
women.
Description of New Orleans
In
the novel, the description of New Orleans-an important centre of slave trade
is very moving. In New Orleans there are
many places where they were housed and traded by slaves merchant which
were called ‘warehouses’. When St. Clare dies, Tom and all the slaves of St.
Clare household were marched the warehouse and auctioned.
We
find at the warehouse, Legree conducting a thorough examination of a group of
slaves before biding for them. He open Tom’s jaw to examine his teeth, sees his
biceps and makes him leap in the air to see how fit and strong he is. He does not spare young Emmeline this
shameful examination. In this way, in slave warehouse slaves are kept,
sold, tortured officially.
Exploitation of slaves
The
novel presents the picture of the exploitation of slaves. Legree’s
plantation is a hellish place where slaves exist in a state of living death. There
is neither hope nor relief from misery for them. Their plight is absolutely
hopeless. The slaves had to work from morning to evening. They were housed in
wooden cabins where even a bed did not exist. The food they ate was poor and
there were no facilities of any kind. Legree employed cruel slave-driver for
supervising and lashing the slaves. It is like a hell on the earth where death
alone can bring deliverance to luckless slaves. We can hear the echoes of
slavery in the words of Cassy,
“There’s
nothing here
but evil
and long, long
despair.”
Slaves’s troubles, tensions and insults.
Slaves
didn’t know anything like peace or happiness. The life of a slave is full of troubles,
tensions and insults. Tom’s life is its best example. Tom has to suffer a
lot because of his brutal master Legree. Tom’s goodness is silent criticism of
Legree who wants to make Tom as brutal as he himself was. Once, Tom helps a
sick woman who was ordered to work unwillingly. Annoyed by this, Legree orders
Tom to beat that lady. But this was quite against of Tom’s nature and so he
clearly denies to follow it. For Legree, this behavior is unbelievable and so
he orders to beat Tom severely. Like a devil, he tortures the saintly man and
kills him in the end.
Conclusion
To summing up, Uncle
Tom’s Cabin’ is popular and will be
remember forever in the history of American literature. It is a very moving
story and an example of the power of pen to influence the course of history. It
exposes the exploitation of slaves by their master in an inhuman way. All the
slaves from children to old people had to suffer a lot. There was no happiness
in their life. The novel creates powerful impression of slavery as the curse on
mankind as Mrs. Shelby said.
“This is God’s curse on
Slavery.
It is a wicked and
cruel
thing…a curse to the
master
and a curse to the
slave. It
is sin to hold slaves.”
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